Couple reasons. It used to be more active, but the nature of this forum has become such that most people on here are very new to the hobby and don't have anything to trade. Others it's because the live outside the US, and others still just don't want to trade what they have.

Of course being unaware of that forum or having apprehension about doing something like that if you've never done it before could very well be the issue as well.

I used to look at it once and a while, sometimes I forget it is there. For me the problem is finding someone who has what I want and wants what I have.

My wife belongs to something called paperback exchange. People submit a list of books they have, the site creates a list, you then select what you want. It then sends you an PDF with an address on it. She prints it wraps the book in it and drops it in the mail. In a few days a book show up from some random person. I though this would be interesting to do with orchids.

I have had great exchanges with Nick and a few other veteran growers here, Trying to be a little more generous with the exchange always work out good in the long run. Exchanges with some( may be new to orchids ??) left a bad taste in my mouth(dead root, diseased plant), and some did not even return the plant exchange One of them I think has name ID starts as 'Dr something' Then I think it is not worth my time, leave alone the plant and the cost of shipping/ Actually I have quite a few doubles and spares around at this point.
It's a nice idea and lots of fun, whether you need those plants or not- everyone has to keep their end of the bargain and be fair!!
Ok , that was my 2 cents....

I definitely understand that less experienced growers have less to offer in trades. Still everyone probably has a couple of orchids that others might be interesting in. Plus a more active exchange forum may actually attract more experienced growers to this community.

It is concerning that all forum users have not been fair. I am disappointed to hear that some people have not returned the trade or returned diseased plants. I guess there are always some risk involved with making trades on forum. Still I really like the idea.

It would be really awesome to have something like the paperback exchange that Lumpy mentioned. I like that idea a lot. For now, I hope that the exchange forum does pick-up again. It seems like it was a nice feature in the past.

4 to 5 years ago. when the exchange forum was at it's peak, I used it all the time. It became part of a weekly routine to see what was offered, make deals, pack the plants Sunday afternoon and ship them out Monday morning. Wednesday or Thursday one or more packages would arrive and new plants were potted or mounted.

Only once did some teenage kid take a few of us for a ride and accept our plants without returning. He was immediately blackballed and heard from no more. The active traders got to know each other and made some great deals. I felt I never lost anything as I only offered divisions of big plants where removing 10% really made no difference. I expected nothing else in return. If a division would seriously reduce the strength or appearance of a plant I would not divide it and not offer it.

I also made divisions in anticipation of future trades. If I got a 10 leaf Masdie, I would immediately split off 3 leaves and pot them up. Not tradable at that point but 6 month later with 2 or 3 new leaves it becomes a trade plant.

The cost of shipping, usually between $5 and $8 would be the cost of 3 or 4 plants, there exist no better deals. Unfortunately the whole thing died out. I once wrote an article for our society newsletter and tallied a total for a year. In the particular year I received slightly over 200 plants for a postage cost of about $350. Less than $2.00 per plant.

Some people would ship entire plants in a pot full of whatever and pay massive postage for one plant but the vast majority of plants are shipped bare-root at minimal cost. It is seasonal as when it gets cold it is not feasable to certain parts of the country.

It was a lot of fun and I miss it but it takes 2 to tango, it is not a solitary exercise.

Nick

Hello All:
I've had a couple of good trades via the exchange part of the forum. Too bad that some abuse the system, but other situations work out well.
Also, Nick graciously sent me a few corms of a species I want to try and we worked it out. I will send him a corm of another deciduous species when it finally goes dormant.
Thanks, Nick -
Maryanne in WMass

Thank you Maryann. Greencurls and I are in the middle of another trade.

Trades can be unbelievable! Someone and I are putting the finishing touches on a trade which involves him sending me 60 Bulbos, some quite rare and I sending him 60 Pleuro types. We will probably get the plants for less than a Dollar each. It only takes one or two of this kind of activity to do wonders for one's collection. I will report if and when it happens.

The trick is that you don't really give up anything. If I have a small plant I would never trade it But removing 7 or 8 leaves from a Masdevallia that has 40 leaves makes no lasting impression. Similarly for a large Bulbo spilling over it's pot, having a front lead removed, goes unnoticed. If this trade happens and I think it will, neither of us is really giving up anything and both of us are gaining new plants To buy 60 Bulbos (or Pleuro types) from Andy or Carolina Orchids would cost a minimum of $1,200, more realistically between $1,500 and $2,000. Our postage, the only real cost besides time spent putting it all together, will probably be less that $50.

To do something like that you need a large collection, time to spare and the psychotic need to add more plants. Normal people probably would not do this.

Nick

I never really thought about creating division in anticipation of a trade. I will have to start doing that more often. If I don't trade them here, I am sure my orchid society table would appreciate it. I am still hoping to see a revival of the exchange forum. Clearly it can benefit both new and veteran orchid growers.

The 60 bulbos for 60 pleuros is a pretty amazing swap! Although I am sure it will be a lot of work, it will be great. Good luck.

My half of the trade just went down. I sent him:

DRACULA
Raven
Black Magic
platycrater 'Claire'
chimaera 'Chocolate'
hawleyi (div of type plant)
hirtzii alba
terborchii
andreatae
beleropheron (different)
chestertonii âÂÂquetzaloatteâÂÂ
chiroptera âÂÂgrendelâÂÂ
insolita 'Margaret'
robeldoram âÂÂ'Anna'
hirtzii 'John Leathers'
lemurella
marsupialis
roezlii 'Jim Nytakken'
vampira 'Bella Lugosi' FCC/AOS
vampira x beleropheron
vampira (HH x Tyler) x Waltwer
citrina

DRACUVALLIA
Gualaquiza
Stiles 'Pacifica'
Blue Boy 'Cow Hollow'

MASDEVALLIA
caloptera
chuspipatae
coccinea 'Bull's Blood'
coriacea
datura
elegans
ignea 'Crestwood'
maxilimax
mendoza xanthia
polistricta (blue)
racemosa
santa insae
superbiens
torta
veitchiana
xanthia (red)
Tourmaline 'Rapture'
Patricia Hill Frasier
Falcata 'Ruby'

PLEUROTHALLIS
anfracta
ascera
canaligera
garganthua xanthia
grandiflora
liliae
nephroglossa
penelops
rubarima (red)
sclerophylla
talpinario (purple)
pectinata

These are divisions I'm sending him. The Pleuro pectinata is the crown jewel, almost unobtainable but I managed to get 2 of them after looking for 2 years. He is sending me some rare Bulbos so it's a fair trade.

We send these things bare-root. I wrap a little moist Sphagnum Moss around the roots and then enclose it with a sheet of foil. No need to pay tons pf postage to ship pots and bark all over the country. We each have our own way of growing things anyway, when I get plants I usually unpot them and then do them my way. He will spend a good portion of this weekend situating these 50 plants.

He was going to send me the Bulbos this weekend but I get to go to the OR to have my GB removed next Wed so his plants will sit for a couple of weeks until I recovered enough to deal with them. The postage fee was $27.63 which will be my cost for 50 Bulbos some rare about $0.50 each. I'm not worried about the 2 to 3 weeks delay for the receipt of my stuff I know this guy and trust him. We traded before.

There is no better way to get new plants.

Nick

Nick - Your trade sounds amazing. It also sounds like a lot of dedication and work. Congrats on getting all of this done so efficiently. Please share the list of the rare bulbos when they come in and you get a chance to get them situated. I am very curious to hear about the other part of the trade.

I hope that you have a quick and easy recovery!

Nick
How's your 'UN' gall bladder?
gb

Nick
How's your 'UN' gall bladder?
gb

Nick
How's your 'UN' gall bladder?
gb

Soaking in alcohol or whatever they put it in. Amazing experience. Surgery started at 6PM and ended at 9PM 6 1/2 days ago. Extensive adhesion of the gallbladder and further problems with a hiatal hernia led to a difficult almost 3 hours laparoscopic surgery. I was ready to go home the next morning but they would not discharge my until the following day. Last pain shot 8 hours after surgery. At this time it is less than 1 week from a major abdominal surgery and I'm driving and leading an almost normal life.

In my days we would slice a person open and at this time I would just be limping home form a week in the hosp. My Bulbos will come next week.

Nick

Hey, Nick - I wish you a speedy healing -
Maryanne

I will have some divisions in the spring ill put on the exchange forum. im sure there is an inflex of people posting in the spring months when people are repotting.

The second half of the trade just went down. I received the following plants from him:

BULBOPHYLLUM
alexandrae
alkmaarense
alisosum
antenniferum
caranculatum 'Andrea's Red'
cheiri
cornutum
crassipes x 2
curtesii var olutescens
curtesii var purpureum
cycloseptum
dentiferum
ebulbe
erioides
fascinator var hampeliana
flammuliferum
fraudulentum big
fraudulentum, small
fritallariflorum
granniflora D&B
hirtum
hirundinis
kermensium
liliacina
longibracteatum
longisepalum
longissimum 'Crown Point'
marquilinguense
mastersianum
micholitzii
miniatum
morphologorum
nilgherrense
orientale
ornatissimum
ovaliflorum
palawense
pumascum
purpurascens
restrepia
retusiusclum
rufinum, all yellow
rufinum 'Stripes'
sahatorium
sauropam 'Hill'
scabratum x 2
serratotuncatum
setaceum
stenobulbon
strangularium
tridentatum
triste
variable
vincolbulbon

HAP
dolichoglottis
nitidum
microhombos

SUNAPIA
grandiflora

TRIAS
discoflora

ERIA
convalloriodeas
vandenbergii

Since that adds up to 63 plants and I only sent him 50, we exchanged some cash (cheaper than Andy's) to make it equal. I spent the last 1 1/2 days mounting these plants. All except the Erias ended up mounted which is my preferred way to establish Bulbos. Once they get big I move some into pots.. All in all a good trade.

Nick

PS forgive misspelled names, I'm bushed and even though it is 9PM, it is 80F. That suckes. Over the next week or so I'll look up each of these plants to get some handle on this.

Trias, Sunipia and Hapolichilus are all genuses split from Bulbophyllum.

Nick

Wow. That is an impressive list. Just wondering why you prefer to establish bulbos on mounts first?

I prefer mounts in general. That's how they grow in nature and I do well with that. Hard to overwater a mount but I definitely have lost bulbs to rot from overwatering. Ideally I would like to have 2 of each plant, one mounted and one in a shallow pot (we are talking about Bulbos). If the division of a new plant is small enough where it's going to be one or the other, I'll mount it and when it gets big enough make a new division and pot that.

Then there are some gangly ones that do well in hanging baskets.

Nick